Perspective

"In high school, I thought college was going to be a terrible experience, and I didn't want to leave home. In college, I thought the real world could never be better than the new life I had just created there. When I married your grandmother, I figured that that was it- nothing could make me happier. Then we had your mother and uncles and I knew life was perfect. After 25 years of work on the AEGIS radar, we accomplished something that no one thought was possible, but I had already decided that I should stop being surprised."

"Why's that?"

"Because then my grandsons were born, and life got even better. That's the thing- there's always good times to come if you do it right. Don't ever be afraid to move or to change, or that the best time in your life is now ... because it isn't."

-my grandfather, the night before I left for Lehigh three years ago